


love like gravity

by LuciferCaelestis



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: 'i won't give up on you' is 'i love you' in sheith, M/M, POV Shiro (Voltron), Pining Shiro (Voltron), Post-Season/Series 02, Post-Season/Series 06, THEY SAVED EACH OTHER, based on that one interstellar scene, shiro in the astral plane
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-07-27 17:51:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16224227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuciferCaelestis/pseuds/LuciferCaelestis
Summary: Love is the one thing we're capable of perceiving that transcends dimensions of time and space. (Interstellar)Shiro is lost in the astral plane, drifting, but his love for Keith still anchors him to life.When he sees a vision of Keith, lost and hurting after Kerberos, he realises that things really do come full circle. He saved Keith once. Now Keith will save him.





	love like gravity

**Author's Note:**

> after i watched interstellar, i knew i had to write a sheith fic based on that one scene at the end that broke my heart
> 
> does anyone else ever cry thinking of how shiro and keith's love transcends time, space and even death???
> 
> thank you [MiidiocreShards](http://miidiocreshards.tumblr.com) for betaing this and listening to my screaming at 1am. also thanks to all my friends who had to deal with me talking about this idea so many times

Death was a lot like a zero-g simulation.

Shiro wasn’t sure how much time had passed since he’d woken up– if you even could wake up after dying– but what else did you call suddenly becoming aware of your body floating in an endless void?

Even though he didn’t really have a body anymore.

Nothing had weight anymore.

Not even him.

For the first time since his capture, since becoming a paladin, he had nothing but time to think, to regret.

He thought about Kerberos; how his dream, that he’d fought so hard for, that he’d given up so much for, had led him here, to his death. How Adam had been right, in a terribly ironic way, that Kerberos would be the death of him. How ironic it had been, that he, who’d had a death sentence on his head for so long, had survived and thrived in the Arena where so many had failed. 

And despite how much he’d fought, he’d still ended up here. Dead.

Sometimes he wished Keith was there with him. 

Keith had been the only one to ask him what he’d wanted, where so many others had warned him off. Keith was about the only person he’d feel comfortable talking to about this, to feel vulnerable with. Keith knew about the axe hanging above his head; it would be alright to admit to him that Shiro knew he had limited time, that he’d known for years now, even prepared for it, but he still didn’t want to die.

He'd tried to reached out to the Black Lion, but their bond was dormant in a way he'd never felt before, not even when he’d fought Zarkon.

So he was alone with his thoughts.

Time passed, or it didn’t.

Shiro didn’t know how long it had been when the Black Lion reached out to him, their bond reawakening. He found strength in the bond, like his connection to Black made him just a little more solid than he’d been before.

Sometimes he wondered why he was even here, wherever it was. Was he going to be stuck like this forever? In limbo, unable to move on, but also unable to actually do anything about his situation. Separated from the people he cared about, without no way to help them, or even contact them.

He’d tried reaching out to them, to Keith, but every attempt ended in failure.

Black could only give him a little comfort, by letting him see through her eyes.

It was months before anyone approached the Black Lion. He watched as his team tried to pilot the lion, one by one, but whatever connection he had with them was weak, wavering like static.

But when Keith walked into the lion, Shiro felt grounded for the first time since he'd woken up in the void. He felt _alive._

Keith’s steps were slow and heavy as he made his way to the pilot’s seat.

“I know you wanted this for me, Shiro. But I’m not you, I can’t lead them like you,” Keith pleaded.

The Black Lion lit up at Keith’s touch, as Shiro knew she would. 

“Please… _no_.”

Shiro was stricken by the look on Keith’s face, the hopelessness.

“I’m sorry, Keith.” He had nothing else to offer.

He tried again, to reach out for Keith, to tell Keith he was here. For a second, he swore he could almost touch Keith, before the connection cut off and he was sucked back into the void.

Lost and drifting again after that beautiful feeling of being alive for that brief moment he'd felt Keith, he stared down at his palm, not really registering the sight.

He just couldn't let go of that feeling.

Black nudged at his mind, suggesting that he reach out to Keith again.

Shiro closed his eyes, focusing on Keith, everything that made up Keith to him, but his thoughts were distracted. 

He hadn't expected to see Keith so... devastated by his loss.

Was this how Keith had reacted when Shiro had been announced dead after Kerberos?  
He didn’t know much about Keith’s expulsion from the Garrison, only what Keith had told him and what little he’d heard from Lance’s complaints when they’d first met.

When he opened his eyes, it was to the sight of Keith, young and in Garrison uniform, being chewed out by Iverson. He blinked in surprise, but before he could do anything, Keith began yelling and punched Iverson clear across the room.

He watched in horror as Keith was wrestled away from Iverson, sure by the way that Iverson was talking that it was the last straw and he was ordering Keith’s expulsion. What really struck him wasn’t the way Keith had lashed out at Iverson, but the look in Keith’s eyes as he walked away.

It was the look of a man with nothing to lose anymore.

There was no doubt in his mind that people would believe whatever the Garrison said about the mission failure, especially if they released the information about his disease, but having to watch Keith give up on him, Keith, the only one who had never given up on him, it shattered him.

He was holding on to life by a thin thread anyway, connected only to the Black Lion and those too-short moments of life when he could feel Keith, what would it do to him to see Keith giving up on him?

Without someone to anchor himself to, without Keith, would his tenuous hold on life simply fade away?

Keith was packing his things, clothes, little knick-knacks Shiro had given him, throwing them all into a bag, before he finally reached under his pillow to reveal the knife Shiro now knew to be his Marmora blade. The knife was carefully placed into the bag, and it pained Shiro to see that the sum of Keith’s life could still just fit in one measly duffel bag, as if everything he’d done to see Keith get a better chance at life hadn’t had much of an effect at all.

He watched in silence as Keith left the Garrison without a second glance, straddling his hoverbike like he had so many times before, only this time Shiro wasn’t beside him.

Keith flew through the desert, dust kicking up in his wake. One of the things they’d bonded over was their shared love of flying, of pushing their very limits to the brink, but he could see none of that in Keith’s flying now.

Keith always flew a little too recklessly, but there was an edge to it now, like Keith just wanted to fly and fly and never touch the ground again.

Shiro’s heart leapt up his throat when Keith sped up towards the cliff, the one he’d shown off and dived off of with Keith so long ago. Keith had long since proven that he could handle it, but with how he was flying now, Shiro feared that it would end badly this time.

At the last moment, Keith swerved away from the cliff edge and came to a sudden stop.

Shiro caught only a glimpse of tears in Keith’s eyes before his hand hurriedly brushed them away.

From there, Keith flew to the shack Shiro had woken up in after he’d crash-landed on Earth.

He knew the shack was a part of the home Keith had shared with his father long ago, and he’d been honoured when Keith had brought him there the first time.

After reaching the shack though, Keith made no move to go inside, sitting on the porch instead, a defeated look on his face.

The sound of Keith’s quiet sobs was heart wrenching.

He wished right then that he could touch Keith, reach out to him and comfort him.

“Keith, I’m here. Don’t give up on me, Keith. I’m here with you, please,” Shiro begged. “Don’t give up on me. I’m here. I’m with you.”

He’d thought Keith giving up on him would be the end of him, but no, Keith hurting, _because of him_ , was so much worse.

“No, no, no.” He banged his arms against whatever force was keeping him apart from Keith, willing it to break so that he could get to Keith.

To his surprise, the force of it actually sent Keith’s backpack falling over, and the compass Shiro had given Keith came rolling out, tumbling down and coming to a stop by Keith’s feet.

Shiro watched as Keith picked it up gently, fingers tracing it over and he choked out a laugh when he saw how Keith’s brows furrowed how they did when he was confused by something, turning it over after he felt the engraving on the back.

He kept his eyes on Keith’s face, knowing the inscription by heart already.

_To help guide you home._

Even though he knew Keith was well trained in navigating by stars by now, he’d wanted to leave something tangible behind. 

Keith had wiped away his tears and was looking up at the sky now. 

“I won't give up on you, Shiro,” Keith vowed quietly.

It almost felt like Keith was looking right at him, that he was making that promise to Shiro.

For the first time since Shiro had started seeing Keith, he felt Black’s presence in his mind again.

'Why did you bring me here?' he asked Black desperately, but all he got in reply was a feeling of denial and concern across their bond. ‘Why?' he asked again, but Black was resolute.

‘Why are _you_ here?’ she asked him instead, and he faltered.

Because he’d wanted to see Keith.

He didn’t know how, or why, but his wish had come true anyway.

Then, realization dawned upon him.

‘You didn’t bring me here. I did.’

During the Kerberos mission, he and Matt and Sam had had some interesting discussions to pass the time. He recalled one such discussion had been about other dimensions and what could affect them, and Matt had jokingly suggested gravity.

But then Commander Holt’s answer came to mind. Love. He’d been serious about it, that love had a power all on its own. People studied love for a reason, after all. Shiro hadn’t been feeling charitably towards love then, after his break up, so he’d laughed it off.

Now that he’d experienced it though, he had to admit that they’d both been had been right. Gravity could exert a force against space-time. It could cross the dimensions. Including time.

And so could love.

How else could he be seeing Keith like this? His connection with Keith had guided him to Keith to this very moment.

Keith had told him before, alone, when Shiro asked him what he’d done after he’d gotten kicked out from the Garrison, that he’d felt something calling for him, telling him to search. Keith had hesitated before revealing that it had felt like Shiro, telling Keith to search for him. To find him. Keith had brushed it off, and Shiro had accepted it, only feeling guilty that he’d been the one to drive Keith to such measures.

He’d wondered how Keith knew to look for the Blue Lion in the desert, wondered what had been calling out to him that time, if it had just been grief and Keith finding a way to reorient himself after losing his way.

But there had been a simpler explanation all along.

He was the one who’d called out to Keith, who'd started the search. Keith had been the beginning of Voltron, and Shiro was simply meant to guide him.

The Lions were limited by distance, so far across the universe. But he wasn’t. His connection with Keith had allowed him to find this moment.

Love. Love was the key.

According to Black, it was love that allowed Keith to pilot her to save Shiro.

He understood now why he was there. He was meant to lead Keith to Voltron. And Keith finding the Blue Lion’s cave markings had led to him finding Shiro.

Love had guided him to Keith, even in this state. Love would allow Shiro to guide Keith back to him.

He looked down at Keith, who was still looking up at the sky. At him. 

When he realised what he had to do, he laughed because it really did feel like everything was falling into place. 

The universe needed Voltron. And Shiro needed Keith.

“You’re going to save the world, Keith. I’ve always believed in you. I know you have it in you."

It would take all his energy, everything he’d gained over the last few months, even Black didn’t know how long it would take for him to recover, but if he used his energy to broadcast to Keith to find him… the Blue Lion’s energy would be enough to see it through the rest of the way.

And if he survived, the Black Lion would take care of him.

Shiro closed his eyes. “Find me. Please find me, Keith. Please don’t give up on me,” he begged.

As he discharged his energy in one large blast, his whole world narrowed down to Keith.

_I love you._

Keith’s face, surprised yet determined, was the last thing he saw before oblivion consumed him.

*****

After everything, after seeing Keith fight his clone, trying to bring him back every step of the way, never giving up on him, never letting go, Shiro felt like he could finally be at peace. Seeing Keith one more time was more than he could have ever asked for, even if he wished he could have confessed to Keith then.

But then he woke up in a body that felt too much like and not enough like his own body, to the sight of Keith’s face, and he couldn’t help the way he fell into Keith. Just like gravity.

“You found me."

**Author's Note:**

> i really hoped you guys liked it, come scream about sheith or interstellar with me on [tumblr](http://lucifercaelestis.tumblr.com) or [twitter](https://twitter.com/LuciferCael)


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